Number of tested deer in Kane Co. will decrease
The number of deer in Kane County forest preserves that state officials wanted to kill to test for chronic wasting disease will be far fewer after an uproar from residents concerned about the local deer population, as well as the discovery of illegal activity in the preserves by the state.
The need for chronic wasting disease testing followed the discovery in November and December of the first two deer in the county to ever test positive for the fatal illness. Officials from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources asked for permission to enter the preserves and kill 75 deer to measure the spread of the disease. Residents living near the Binnie Forest Preserve in the Carpentersville area quickly rallied against that large of a sample. They believe the deer population to be far less than what the state estimates in the 25-square mile area involved in the study.
On Friday, forest preserve officials pitched a lower sample of 30 deer to forest preserve commissioners. The total evolved out of a recent agreement the state made with Dundee Township to test 20 deer on its land near Salamander Springs. The township area is near the county forest preserve land in question. Forest preserve staff used a historical calculation to arrive at 30. The state has been killing and testing up to 15 deer in the Burlington area preserves for several years. The 25-square mile test area is about twice the size of the Burlington area preserves, so 30 seemed to be the logical number.
Residents, however, still balked. The rationale was, regardless of the property division lines, it’s still the same herd of deer. In other words, the real number would be 50 if considered along with the Dundee Township sample. Kane County Director of Natural Resources Drew Ullberg said the deer population in the area is substantial, even if perhaps not as large as state estimates.
“It’s a huge number of deer for that area,” Ullberg said. “(The testing) is not going to impact the herd. They’ve actually eaten themselves out of house and home through there.”
With that support from the forest preserve, it appeared the state would have a sample size of 30 in the county’s forest preserves. However, residents then caught state officials setting bait traps in the forest preserves before permission was granted. State regional biologist Dan Ludwig admitted the blunder to forest preserve commissioners Friday.
“I put bait piles out,” Ludwig said. “I’ve been very forthright that it was inappropriate. I apologize. I made a bad assumption.”
Committing an illegal act without consulting forest preserve district officials soured the committee.
“So, if I do something illegal and apologize, that’s all I’ve got to do is apologize?” Commissioner Hollie Lindgren asked.
That stage the stage for a lower forest preserve sample number of 20. The committee unanimously approved the sample size to the applause of the residents at the meeting. The 20 will combine with the Dundee Township sample for an overall total of 40. The proposal still needs the approval of the full forest preserve commission before it moves forward. It’s possible the sample size could shrink again.
Commissioner Deb Allan is not a member of the committee that met Friday, but she will get a say in the final vote. Allan said Friday she doesn’t see a need for any state testing right now.
“There have been 500 deer killed by hunters in Kane County this hunting season and no chronic wasting disease was found,” Allan said. “Sixty of the 500 deer were already tested. I would suggest that we don’t do any more culling in our preserves this year, and just ask hunters to do mandatory testing next year.”